In a previous post, I raved about how intuitively useful Inforgraphics can be at displaying data. Websites such as PlaySpent.org take this concept to another level by adding an interactive element.

This website, who’s intent is to spread awareness of American poverty and unemployment, has created a “game” of sorts for the average person to play in order to better conceptualize the daily struggles of the poor. The premise of the game is that you’ve exhausted your savings, you’ve lost your job, and you are down to your last $1000. Now you are faced with an assortment of decisions/dilemmas. For example, do you buy health insurance and bleed into your limited funds, or risk having no insurance to save a little extra money? All of the dilemmas are real life scenarios. And the game is designed so that each decision results in instant personalized feedback. In addition, once each decision is made, there are also informative messages talking about how many people in the US normally deal with this decisions, and the potential repercussions.

My buddy who initially showed me the site said, “This is truly humbling.” I wholeheartedly agree and I would like to add by saying, “It is also eye-opening.” I urge you to give it a try, because you can’t really understand another’s perspective unless you walk a mile in their shoes. And the closest feasible way of doing so is by visiting PlaySpent.org.